North Korean leaders have ordered the executions of their citizens for watching foreign films and television shows, according to a U.N. investigation.

North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, second from left, has tightened restrictions on North Koreans, who are being executed for watching foreign films and television shows, the United Nations reported on Friday. Photo by KCNA/EPA UPI

Sept. 12 (UPI) -- North Korean leaders have ordered the executions of their citizens for watching foreign films and television shows, according to a U.N. Human Rights Office report.

The U.N. report released on Friday says the North Korean government has increased its control of "all aspects of citizens' lives" and subjects its citizens to forced labor, the BBC reported.

"No other population is under such restrictions in today's world," the U.N. report says, as reported by The Telegraph.

The report also says North Koreans are "subjected to unremitting propaganda by the state for their entire lives," according to Euro News.

If the situation continues, North Korea's population "will be subjected to more of the suffering, brutal repression and fear that they have endured for so long," said Volker Turk, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, The Telegraph reported.

The U.N. report is based on interviews with more than 300 North Koreans who managed to escape the nation over the past decade.

Many of those interviewed said the North Korean government is executing citizens more frequently after enacting six enabling laws in 2015.

The laws include the death penalty for watching and sharing content made in other nations, including movies and television shows.

Technology makes it easier for the North Korean government to more effectively monitor and control the nation's population, according to the BBC.

Many of those interviewed by U.N. officials said public firing squads regularly execute citizens, with the frequency increasing since 2020.

One woman who had escaped North Korea in 2023, Kang Gyuri, said three of her friends were executed after they were caught with content that was produced in South Korea, the BBC reported.

One was a 23-year-old male who was tried alongside those accused of drug offenses, she said.

Many of those interviewed by U.N. officials said they had hoped conditions would improve after North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un succeeded his father in 2011.

Instead, Kim undertook a weapons-development program in 2019 after he rebuked diplomatic efforts by U.S. officials and other Western nations.

Since then, many North Koreans have died from hunger -- especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, they told U.N. officials.